THE ACCOR Group will be present in Sihanoukville, the port city in southern Cambodia, with the opening of a new-built 54-room Ream Resort in 2013, which will be part of its MGallery portfolio.

MGallery’s footprint is growing in the Mekong region, with four other management contracts secured – 107-room Hotel de l’Opera Hanoi, 69-room Veranda High Resort Chiangmai, 118-room Veranda Resort & Spa Hua Hin and 75-room Songtsam Retreat at Shangri-la, the first MGallery hotel in China. With eight MGallery hotels in operation in Asia, and the 174-room Hotel Muse Bangkok announced earlier, the collection has grown to 14 to-date in Asia.

Accor’s senior vice president sales and marketing, Graham Wilson, said the chain was also enjoying rapid growth with its Pullman and Novotel brands in ASEAN. A Pullman will open in Bali and Danang by mid-2011 while three Novotels will open in Bangkok this year. “We remain heavily committed to Bangkok and see growth opportunities across destinations in Thailand,” he said.

BRUNEI Tourism has appointed Beijing-based Longway as its marketing representative for China/Hong Kong and the Walshe Group to represent it in Australia/New Zealand. The appointments are for a two-year period and mark the sole overseas offices for the sultanate.

Brunei Tourism CEO, Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, said the NTO would work with these representatives to conduct travel trade and media activities.

China/Hong Kong is the sultanate’s second largest market after Malaysia, generating 13,224 air arrivals in the first seven months of 2010. Australia is the fifth largest market, with some 8,440 air arrivals during the same period, while New Zealand is eighth, with 5,146 air arrivals.

This year, Brunei Tourism is targeting a 20 per cent increase in air arrivals over last year, an ambitious goal as previous annual targets were just around 11 or 12 per cent. A five-year masterplan will be unveiled in July.

THE PHILIPPINES is reverting to tried-and-tested slogans such as WOW Philippines as it develops a new brand campaign for 2011 and beyond after the spectacular failure of the Pilipinas, Kay Ganda! branding shortly after its November 15 release.

“We will only make the announcement when we are ready,” said Benito Bengzon Jr., Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) assistant secretary, International Tourism Promotions. “In the meantime, we will continue going about our usual efforts such as participating in travel fairs and engaging the media, and introducing more joint promotions and tactical advertising.”

Putting the debacle behind it, the country is introducing a new “action-oriented” five-year national tourism development plan focusing on access and infrastructure, according to DoT secretary Alberto Lim.

– Full story in TTG Asia

EUROPEAN buyers decry being squeezed out of Bali, which is expecting another spurt of growth in the Australian market this year.

A UK buyer has charged that Bali hoteliers are “arrogant”, merely interested in Australian tourists, and have increased their contract rates by 20 to 30 per cent for the UK market.

Other European buyers are less scathing, but have described Bali as “challenging” to sell. TUI Netherlands product manager Asia, Sebastian de Vries, said: “On the one hand, the Holland market is price-sensitive and the euro’s devaluation (is not helping). On the other hand, airfares have increased and hotel prices in Bali are up because the island is doing well with the Australian and regional markets.”

Bali hoteliers deny giving longhaul markets the short shrift. In fact, several said they were trying to achieve a balanced mix as it was risky to have too much business from one market. But many have been able to maximise yields by turning to OTAs, which they said was also good for cashflow
because of immediate payments.

– Full story in TTG Asia

THE DEMISE of Best Tours in Belgium late last month is forcing smaller Belgian tour operators to relook their strategies in anticipation of the big boys in the market becoming only bigger in the wake of the collapse.

This may in turn result in niche, away-from-the-mass-market ASEAN destinations such as Indochina being featured more prominently in Belgium than ever before.

Best Tours was largely seen as the biggest Belgian-owned outfit specialising in Asian destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Marc Lambert, CEO, Antipodes Voyages, said the focal issue in the Belgian market now was that its bankruptcy meant that the “bigger players were getting even bigger”. “In order to fight big players like TUI and Thomas Cook, which are generalists that also cover Asia in their programmes, Australasia specialists like us need to find niche destinations and products in places like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.”

– Full story in TTG Asia

ASEAN outbound tour operators are expecting double-digit growths in business this year, thanks to a stronger regional economy and more intra-regional flights.

Shroff International Travel Care Philippines managing director Arjun Shroff forecasts Philippine outbound to grow up to 18 per cent this year, with about half of the travellers opting for Asian destinations.

“Asia is priority. It is the most affordable destination and is easy to connect with as airlines have been launching new routes and increasing flights between cities within the region,” he said.

KBS Thailand managing director Kosol Boonma said increasing intra-regional air traffic from the Philippines was also benefiting Thailand. He expects Thai outbound to grow 10 per cent, nurtured by a stronger baht.

– Full story in TTG Asia, January 28

By Sirima Eamtako

Additional reporting by Mimi Hudoyo

DORISON Travel Singapore is seeing good response for culinary tours to South-east Asia which it launched last April.

Managing director Jimmy Sim said most of the bookings were from Singapore clients and longhaul travellers as part of their South-east Asian programmes.

The tours to Thailand and Indonesia last four to five days, with each group comprising no more than 15 participants, who visit local markets, get shopping and cooking lessons from quality chefs and learn about Asian spices and the culture behind popular dishes.

– Full story in TTG Asia

Additional reporting from Brian Higgs

THE NEW Asia Cruise Terminal Association aims to grow its ASEAN membership, which now comprises only Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The association was initiated by the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) and Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Development Company. China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are its other members.

SCC chairman Soo Kok Leng said a concerted effort to develop cruising infrastructure in Asia was needed, as “cruise liners, when planning their itineraries, are guided by how marketable the destinations are”.

He urged: “It would be to everyone’s benefit to be a part of this forum, as we work towards…building our region into the Caribbean of the East.”

– Full story in TTG Asia

THAI hotels are advised to continue with tacticals this year and maintain rates for the next contracting season, with buyers citing a weak economy and currency, especially in Europe, coupled with room oversupply in some Thai areas, as the main reasons.

Hotelbeds’ head of contracting Thailand/Indochina, Alon Miler, based in Bangkok, said it was pointless for them to raise rates, only to roll out stay/pay deals later.

Bangkok-based Go Vacation Thailand’s executive director for product and contracting, Hermann Wegmueller, said the stronger baht against the euro had already caused prices in Thailand to rise by 20 to 25 per cent over the last six months.

Even markets whose economies are stronger are making similar calls. Wettstein Switzerland’s senior product manager Dagmar Waeber said even if Thai hotels were to ask for a small percentage hike, that would translate to a big increase due to the strong baht. “I would suggest hotels to maintain rates, but not drop them, as that would be asking too much,” she said.

– Full report in TTG Asia

By Sirima Eamtako